I Like You Best
by Masked Shota
Summary: A CronoxKino fic. R&R PLEASE!
1. Default Chapter

Crono: Oh, here we go again. First Magus, and now Kino. I have to admit tho, Kino is cuter.  
  
Magus: Hey!!  
  
Crono: Eheheh ^_^;;  
  
Kino: XD  
  
Yaoiboy: Alright, alright break it up. I mean, everyone knows Kino is cuter .;;; *dodges a dark bomb...barely* HEY!!!  
  
Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN a 1980 Gremlin. I just don't. I mean, ewww. Oh, and I don't own Crono Trigger either.  
  
  
  
Why did I come back to Ioka Village?   
  
Crono asked himself this, knowing full well what the answer was.  
  
The wedding? No, that's not it, not exactly.  
  
Ayla and Kino were to be wed in two days time. The whole group was there, partying hard around the huge bonfire, dancing those exotic, primitive dances; with the exception of Magus, of course. He had much more important things to do, so he'd said.   
  
But how could I refuse?  
  
The smell of roasted reptite meat permeated the village, as did the cloying scent of ripe fruits that were heaped atop mats around the village. Crono sunk his teeth into something pear shaped and purple, and a sweet rush of juice flooded his mouth.  
  
From where he sat he could watch all the goings on of the celebration. He could see Lucca, trying to lecture a group of fur clad locals on the importance of the wheel, which they were currently using as a table top. Robo entertained the curious children, awing them with miniature laser light shows, and letting them climb all over him as if he were a jungle gym. Marle was busy helping the cooks, getting her hands dirty any chance she could; something that would be severely frowned upon if she were back in the castle. Frog sat in quiet repose, much like Crono. The amphibious body could not take such intense heat, so he kept his distance from the fire, sipping on an orange fruit drink in a heavy stone mug. Then there was the couple of the moment.  
  
Crono sighed looking at them, sitting together, bathed in the harsh orange firelight. Ayla was laughing loudly as she joked with the small crowd about them, and Kino was smiling a very nervous smile. Crono let his gaze linger on the youthful face of the blonde boy in hopes of catching his attention. After a few moments though, his eyes began to drift across that perfectly tanned physique, that muscular chest, glistening with sweat from the fires intense heat. When Kino finally did look his way, Crono looked back long enough to see a few strands of blonde hair fall across the boy's dark eyes before he turned away, never knowing if Kino was actually looking at him or not.  
  
Why would he be, Crono thought. That was such a long time ago...  
  
***Flashback***  
  
Crono had been sleeping fitfully that night. He couldn't stop thinking about that blonde boy. It wasn't often that he saw someone who looked like that...enough to make him think the way he was thinking now.  
  
Stop it! he told himself, but he just kept seeing Kino in his mind. The animal furs that draped the boys shoulders and waist did nothing to hide his chiseled body. It's a perfect body too, isn't it? Crono thought. Then he sighed.  
  
He likes Ayla best. What's the point in even thinking about it? Why can't I just let it go?  
  
He tossed and turned a little while longer before he decided he wasn't going to get any sleep. He got up, grabbed his katana, and left the tent.  
  
There was no one about in the starlit village but the guards who watched the perimeter. Crono waved to one of them who happened to see him, and started to walk aimlessly. He could see the reptite footprints in the ground from earlier that day, when they had raided the village. Things were still pretty trashed. He decided to walk out of the village, where the view was a bit more peaceful.  
  
I know it's not safe but...so far, I haven't seen anything I can't handle he thought as he began to walk out across the moonlit plains.   
  
The breeze was pleasant, clear and cool. He could see the pale light reflecting on the blades of grass swaying back and forth with each gust of air. It calmed him down, and he walked on for a while without thinking about why he was walking in the first place. It was easy to just empty his mind and simply marvel at the savage beauty of the primitive world. Somehow it all reminded him of Kino though.   
  
He sighed and walked on.  
  
Eventually he came to a hill that sloped gently up to a point that he figured would give him a great view, so he started to climb. It was then that he heard the soft sound or a footstep fall behind him. In one fluid movement he turned and drew his sword, only to find himself staring at the one person he was trying so hard not to think about.  
  
"K-Kino sorry," the boy stammered, his face darkening slightly. "No mean to scare Crono."  
  
Why is he...here?? Crono thought, for a moment unable to do anything but remain frozen in place. Kino's frightened glance at the blade snapped him out of it. He lowered the weapon, and stood there, for a moment mesmerized by the way the wind played in the boy's hair.  
  
"W-were...you following me?" Crono asked, and Kino nodded in response. There was something strange about the way Kino nodded, as if he were embarrassed."Why?" Crono asked then, for Kino only to look down, and not speak.  
  
What...do I say?  
  
"...if you wanted to come with me, you could have just said so," he decided on finally, and Kino looked up to him, and cocked his head to the side curiously.  
  
"Crono no mad at Kino? Kino did bad thing..."   
  
"Oh, that." Earlier that day Kino had stolen Crono's gate key out of jealousy. "No, I'm not mad..."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Really."  
  
The youthful face lit up then, and he held out his hand for Crono to take. Thinking they were going to shake, Crono found his hand clasped in a vice-like grip.   
  
"Kino take Crono to his secret place!" he cried jubilantly, and before Crono could agree or protest, he found himself being dragged off into the forest. 


	2. Over the River and Through the Woods

Kino could not understand why Crono had turned away so suddenly. He couldn't understand why Crono barely looked at or spoke to him at all since he'd been there.  
  
Crono is my friend, he thought to himself. Why does he stay away?  
  
To compound matters, Kino needed Crono. He needed him now, to listen to him and his feelings. No one else understood him here in the village. No one cared what he felt. Kino was smart, not strong, and it was strength that mattered. Ayla was the strongest in the village. She had even helped defeat the menacing Azala, and then Lavos. No one could match her. No one's opinion mattered but her's.  
  
So Kino sat silently by her side, a trophy. It was tradition that nothing be denied the strongest warriors, and Ayla chose him, despite any and all protest.  
  
She just can't see...Kino thought sadly, though his face still managed to smile.  
  
He didn't even really have a reason to fight it. It was the way things had always been, and he'd expected it ever since he and Ayla had become friends. He could have accepted it too, if it weren't for the memories that chased him now, and let him know that there was another way that things could have turned out...and maybe still could.  
  
***Flashback***  
  
It was a moment driven purely on hormones. From the moment Kino noticed Crono leaving the village, till the moment he taken the red heads hand in his, the prehistoric blonde's only motivation was something that he couldn't name. He would have called it attraction, had the word been invented at the time.  
  
Now he was towing Crono behind him through the towering trees and overlarge leaves of the underbrush of the forest. There was a stream running along side them, he knew. It shined through the branches in moonlit flashes, and gurgled faintly. Close, he thought, in an effort to push other thoughts from his mind that he could not place. Never had the touch of someone's hand in his felt so hot and stirred feelings deep inside him. It was confusing, but he liked it.  
  
"Kino! K-Kino!" Crono yelled, and the blonde boy came to sudden halt, and released Crono's hand. He turned to see his friend bent over, huffing and puffing to catch his breath.  
  
"What?" Kino asked, his expression as innocent as a child's. For a moment he thought that maybe he had done another bad thing, and that Crono would be angry with him. When the other boy finally looked up though, he didn't look angry.   
  
In fact, he was smiling at first, and then, his eyes got wide, and his face turned very red. Kino didn't know exactly what to make of this, so he cocked his head to the side curiously, and waited.  
Crono stared up at the boy with the heaving, chiseled chest, coated with a thin layer of perspiration that glistened in the moonlight. He saw Kino's curious face, shadowed by the over hanging branches, the flawless face a flushed picture of youthful invigoration.  
  
...and beauty, Crono thought as he stood there, unable to do anything but stare rudely for a while. But Kino had asked him a question hadn't he...?  
  
"Oh, n-nothing," he stammered. I just needed to catch my breath.   
  
Another, puzzled look. Kino glanced about as if searching.  
  
"Catch it, then?" he asked, obviously confused. Crono couldn't help but chuckle.  
  
"Yeah, I caught it," he responded, smiling and cursing the closeness of the boy as he stood straight up finally, much too close to that enticing grin.  
  
"Good! We go now." And with that, Crono found himself being dragged through the trees once more. He stumbled and ran to keep up, While Kino easily manuevered the obviously familiar path.   
  
It would have been much easier for Crono if he would just look forward instead of down, but the furs draped around Kino's waist flailed about wildly in the wind, and each time Crono looked up, he got an eye full of the boy's perfectly round, bronzed behind, which alone could make him lose his balance. Fortunately, the trip was over soon. The forest ended as abruptly as it had sprung up several yards before, but instead of another sprawling plain, there was an even more beautiful sight.  
  
It was a beach of black sand alongside a river that Crono had heard and seen in snippets along the way there. The moons glow caught grains of the sand so that they glittered, and the beach looked like a reflection of the sky. The river itself was so quiet and smooth that it was tough to see where the water gave way to the sand, unless the light caught the surface just right, turned the stream into a snaking path of blue light. All this made up a clearing before a large cave into which the water, and the sandy banks, ran. After turning about once to take in the entire scene, which was pretty secluded with the dense forest rising behind them, and the huge mountain before, Crono turned to find Kino smiling at him brightly.  
  
"This my secret place. Where the village not know, and Ayla not know. Only Kino know...and now, Crono know."  
  
Kino had said that last part much softer than the rest, and his expression changed to something solemn, and something that Crono could not quite put his finger on, or rather, wouldn't let himself believe. The red head himself was blushing.  
  
Wait...Crono thought, peering at Kino's own boyish cheeks. Is he blushing...too?  
  
He leaned to look a bit harder, but Kino lowered his head, and then turned around all together.  
  
"Come. Kino show Crono all."  
  
Crono felt a tingle run through him at these words, but mentally he chastised himself.  
  
He can't mean it the way I think he does, the way I wish he would....can he? Crono wondered as he followed behind Kino into the darkness of the cave. Just as things were becoming pitch black, Kino reached back and grabbed his hand again. For a moment, their eyes met, and neither boy made a move to do anything. Crono's heart was pounding in his chest. Was Kino going to pull him close to kiss him, or maybe pull him down, to...  
  
Stop it! he told himself, but the look in Kino's eyes, that shined like jewels as they caught the last few beams of light, made it all seem utterly possible.  
There was something Kino wanted to do, but he couldn't be sure it was the right thing. Instincts told him to get closer to Crono, to kiss Crono, but...that wasn't how things were. He only saw the girls in the village kiss the boys. Never did the boys kiss the other boys.  
  
But Crono not from village, he thought, and screwing up all the courage he had, he leaned in quickly and kissed the other boy firmly on the lips. It was brief, and it had taken enough out of him to do that much, but the moment his lips touched Crono's own, Kino felt a jolt of something he had never in his life felt before. Now drawn back, he had dropped Crono's hand, and was staring at a face he could not read. His lips felt warm and tingly, and his heart beat like crazy in his chest. When a few moments had passed, and Crono did not speak, Kino slowly became even more confused. He wondered if he had done something wrong, if Crono was angry with him, and would not be his friend anymore, and...something strange in him just wanted to hear Crono speak, and to say...to say what?  
  
"Kino..." Kino began, taking a step back into the darkness, "Kino sorry!" he cried, and ran into the inky darkness crying tears he could not explain.  
"Kino!" Crono cried after the boy had gone, finally finding his voice although it was too late to do much good.  
  
Why didn't I SAY something!? he screamed at himself in his head, and then: He kissed me...  
  
Foolishly, he reached up to gingerly touch his lips, as if there would be something there, something fragile as a house of cards that would fall apart if he touched it. And there was something, but nothing he could feel with his hands. There was a spark, a tingle, a feeling that made his heart race and his blood sing. A feeling tainted by his horrible post-kiss screw up.   
  
He went out on a limb...and I made him feel like a fool, Crono thought dejectedly. Well, there's only one thing to do.   
  
With that, Crono took his first tentative steps into the opaque darkness of the deeper reaches of the cave. He could feel the along the sand with his shoes and find the imprints of Kino's footsteps. It was an arduous task, but slowly he made a way for himself in the darkness. Eventually, he could see a faint light ahead, and then the sand gave way to rocks. Crono no longer needed the footprints to guide him then, though. The light grew brighter with each step he took, until he could see well enough where he was going. As far as he could tell, there was a cliff up ahead. He could hear the sound of the water crashing in what must have been a waterfall ahead.  
  
Briefly, he thought of a grief stricken Kino running over the cliff, and his heart caught in his chest.  
  
No, he thought then. This is Kino's place. He would know there was a cliff...  
  
Crono walked on. When he reached the cliff, he was greeted by yet another incredible vista, perhaps the most incredible.  
  
From the edge of the cliff, he could see the water cascade down in a beautiful waterfall into a steaming lake below. The lake set in the center of a huge, dome shaped clearing in the cave, that was opened far above so that light poured in from the sky. The entire room glittered, and it's walls all appeared to be coated in a film of glass. Had Lucca been there, she could have explained that they were inside an old, inactive volcano that had once been on the floor of the sea, and, because of all the sand and intense heat, had indeed coated the entire clearing in glass.   
  
As it were, Crono didn't know any of this. Just that the room was beautiful, and that Kino was there, dangling his legs in the steaming pool of water below. The sound of the boy's sobs echoed enough to be heard over the rushing water. The sound broke Crono's heart, and to think, he was the cause of it all...  
Kino sat alongside the warm, bubbling pool, crying softly to himself. His legs were submerged in the water, which he could feel swirling about, loosening his muscles. Usually, it felt good to be there. Not this time though.  
  
Stupid...he thought to himself, and kicked the water which made a splash, but did not relieve any of his feelings.  
  
What had he done? Now Crono would not like him at all. He would go to the village, and tell them all about what he had done. Then the village would not like him. Ayla would not like him. Nobody would...but it bothered him most that Crono wouldn't, because he liked Crono more than anyone else.  
  
He began to sink down into the water, letting it swallow up his naked body inch by inch. His furs were in a pile beside the pool where he had thrown them. He had never swam in them before, and even as upset as he was, he didn't forget to remove them. He liked the way the hot water felt against his skin. It could relax him, help him to think. Besides, he would probably not get another chance to go there after Crono went to the village and brought everyone there. They would take away his special place.  
  
Then Kino have no place, he thought, and sunk in till the water reached his neck. When he closed his eyes, he saw Crono. He relived what very few times they'd had together. That was the best he had, after all. And the best he would ever have, he figured.  
  
A sound behind him caused his eyes to flash back open. Turning to look, he saw Crono, staring at him again in that same strange way. Kino was very surprised, and he stood up to turn and face him, oblivious to his nakedness and the effect it might have. 


	3. Grammar Lesson

Crono: x.x; How patient do you expect me to be!  
  
Kino: Ehehe....^_^;  
  
Yaoiboy: Juuuust hold that pose. *takes naughty photos*   
  
Disclaimer: Nooo, I don't own Crono Trigger. If I did, the sequel would be called Crono Trigger 2, and Crono would be naked on the case. ^_^  
Standing in the strange subterranean room, with the moonlight shining in from far above tinting the room blue and casting twinkles in the glass along the walls, Crono found it hard to believe he wasn't hallucinating. Kino's naked rise from the steaming spring did nothing to confirm reality.  
  
There he was, everything Crono had ever wanted, dripping wet and wearing the most endearing expression. What had the speechless red-head planned to say? He couldn't remember. His mind was a jumble of bare limbs and water-beaded flesh. He felt the familiar rush of heat bloom in his cheeks, and groin, as his eyes fell upon the shadowed area that had ever been an enticing bulge; now all was revealed. Crono was very impressed.  
  
"Crono...?"  
  
Does he always have to sound so...so innocent!? the boy thought. Kino's query echoed softly, the childlike curiousity of it adding to the everpresent attraction. What could Crono say? He'd followed Kino here thinking that his feelings would make themselves known on their own, somehow crossing the barrier of misunderstanding between them. The endearingly confused expression on the blonde boy's face made it apparent that this would not happen. If Kino did not realize that glistining, naked body was currently the reason that Crono's pants felt three sizes too small, then he would never divine just how attracted Crono was to him, and the nature of that attraction.  
  
"Why Crono follow Kino? Crono...no like Kino..."  
  
The laugh burst from him before he could stop it, but the mortified look on Kino's face was enough to cut it short. Of course, Crono was laughing at the irony of the situation. But how could Kino know that?  
  
If only I could explain how wrong he is! Crono thought. But how do I say it...so that he understands?  
  
The water splashed violently as Kino turned his back to the red head who stood their stupidly, unable to do more than stare. Crono managed the beggining of a sound before his mind was siezed by the sight of Kino's back side. The chisled back, no doubt as tanned as the front of him, appeared a luminescent white in the moonlight. Crono followed the shadowy dip between the shoulder blades, his eyes climbing down the faint impression of the Kino's spine, to the exquisite curve of his lower back, and then...  
  
Geez...I'm gunna pass out! the boy thought, his heart hammering in his chest.  
  
Kino's bottom was even more wonderful than Crono had gathered from the brief peeks he'd seen in the jungle on the way there. Each cheek was a flawless mound of grabbable, squeezable, lickable flesh. The muscles were as firm as anywhere else on the body, with a shallow indentation on either side, giving the impression that they were clenched. It made Crono wonder how tight Kino must be.  
  
Gah, I don't even have the right to look at him this way, do I? Crono asked himself. No..., he thought, and the excitement that had been mounting was undercut by the thought of how he'd hurt Kino just moments ago.  
  
He then realized things that had escaped his notice before. Like, for instance, the tears that had stood in those fathomless blue eyes before the boy turned away, or the sag to his shoulders now that he had, and the tell-tale quakes of crying that wracking his youthful form and sent ripples across the hot spring. Hadn't Crono come here to apologize to Kino? His lips tingled remembering the kiss that he had ruined, and the laugh that he had uttered.A sick feeling rose in his stomach.  
  
I managed to hurt him again, he thought dismally.  
  
"I...I'm sorry Kino," he said finally. "I'm so sorry..."  
  
Now it was his turn to look away, and fight against his own tears. He had lost his chance, he knew. His apology seemed worthless even as it left his lips, and to make matters worse, all the eloquent words he could think of to plead his case, and pledge his feelings, were just as worthless. Kino would never understand.  
Crono...sorry?  
  
Kino didn't get it. He wiped the tears from his eyes with the back of his still wet hand, before turning once again to face Crono. It was easier to try and read his expression than to understand what he was saying. Of course, Kino knew what "sorry" meant, but it was only something people said when they'd done a bad thing.  
  
Crono no do bad thing. Kino do bad thing, he thought.  
  
Without preamble, he stepped from the water and strode up behind Crono. He had every intent to tap him on the shoulder at first, but somewhere on the way between the water and where he stood, a recurring thought held him for a moment in contemplation. He stood indecisive, a mere foot from Crono's back, thinking that it had not felt bad to kiss Crono. It had not felt bad at all. When had stolen Crono's things earlier that day, it felt bad, and he was sorry for it.  
  
Kino not feel bad now...he thought. Kino...not sorry.  
  
His thoughts seemed to loop in circles then, confusing him even further by the moment. Standing so near to Crono, smelling the pleasant scent the boy exuded, Kino felt the same strange feelings well up inside of him again. It tingled in his chest when he looked at the bare skin at the nape of Crono's neck, and the closer he got, the more felt the feeling travel through him, and it was very acute between his legs. He found himself wanting to kiss Crono again, and it didn't feel like a bad thing at all...but Crono had not been happy about it. Crono had laughed at him even. How could Kino feel so close to Crono, if Crono didn't feel close to him? Why was Crono sorry?   
  
Kino not know! he thought, sighing heavily, and leaning his chin on Crono's shoulder, he sighed again. Without really thinking much about it, he wrapped his arms around Crono's waist to steady himself, and rested his front against Crono's back.   
Crono felt Kino's arms wrap about his waist just as the boy spoke softly into his ear, immediately slowing his tears. The action was tremendously exciting to Crono, but not meant to be he knew.  
  
"Kino not know...why Crono sorry." He sighed another exasperated sigh. "Kino...confused, but...Kino like Crono..."  
  
First and foremost, Crono was increasingly aware of the nude, wet body pressed against the length of his back, dampening his clothes. It was as if his skin had becom hyper sensitive, registering each point of contact with a sort of burning, tingling sensation. No doubt this was in direct relation to his elation. It seemed that Kino's moods, though much more lowkey, could change as sporadically as Ayla's. Or maybe it wasn't sporadic at all. May Crono just couldn't follow their prehistoric thought patterns.  
  
The young swordsman kept his head hung when he spoke, afraid that moving at all would somehow remove the circle of pressure about his waist, or the soft rise and fall of Kino's chest against his back.  
  
"I like you too, Kino...alot. That...that is why I'm sorry...because I hurt you, even though I like you so much." He sighed. "Do you understand?"  
  
There was a long silence, during which their breathing fell into a shared rhythm, Crono noticed the throbbing of Kino's heart.He almost had a heart attack when he realized there was something hard poking the seat of his pants.  
  
"Crono not mad at Kino?," the boy asked finally, in what sounded like disbelief.  
  
"No...No, not at all."  
  
"But...Kino kiss..." The words trailed off, and Kino shifted a bit. Now Crono felt the length of what could only be one thing pressed to his bottom. That heart attack seemed unavoidable now.  
  
"I-I," he stuttered, the sensation slowly driving him crazy. "I liked it...The kiss, I liked the kiss..."  
  
Another pause. Crono felt the crotch of his pants would explode soon, but Kino couldn't possibly know what he was doing to the boy just by hugging him this way.  
  
"Crono...What is "I"?"  
  
"Huh?" Crono was totally thrown off.  
  
"Is 'I' Crono?"  
  
Oh! Crono thought, realizing Kino was asking something Ayla had never bothered to try and figure out. How to explain...  
  
"'I' is...whoever says it," Crono said, amazed at his own ability to muddle his words.  
  
"..."  
  
Gah! Come on, something simple...ah.  
  
"'I'...is Crono, when Crono says 'I'" he said, thankful Lucca wasn't around to hear this. "And 'I' is Kino, when Kino says 'I'..."  
  
"..."  
  
Oh geez. Crono sighed, cursing the language barrier.  
  
"Crono..."  
  
"Yeah, Kino?"  
  
"Can...I...kiss Crono again?"  
  
Crono wondered if the smile that exploded onto his face was permanent, because he didn't think the happiness he felt in that instant could ever go away. 


End file.
